New Tool Protects Users from Firesheep Hackers

A new Firefox add-on has been released to protect users surfing social networks at their local Starbucks or other Wi-Fi landing spot. Does this "BlackSheep" really work, or is it just a wolf in sheep's clothing?

A new Firefox add-on has been released to protect users surfing social networks at their local Starbucks or other Wi-Fi landing spot. Does this “BlackSheep” really work, or is it just a wolf in sheep’s clothing?

The tool comes in response to “Firesheep,” the Firefox add-on released last month that left users of top social media sites like Twitter and Facebook open to attack by ‘everyday’ hackers. The easily downloadable tool let users just as easily hijack the accounts of users through open Wi-Fi networks.

BlackSheep counters that danger by alerting users when someone on the same network is using Firesheep. The tool uses fake cookie values to make HTTP requests every five minutes to sites monitored by Firesheep. If Firesheep is detected, Blacksheep displays a warning and even supplies the hacker’s IP address.

“We essentially used Firesheep against itself to combat the threat it poses,” said Julien Sobrier, senior researcher at Zscaler Labs and the developer behind BlackSheep.